British Airways passengers were hit with a further rise in fuel surcharges today, after the airline said the continuing record price of oil made an increase "unavoidable".

The move, which came after Virgin Atlantic raised its prices last night, had been forecast since last week when crude oil reached $57 a barrel. But both airlines increased their long-haul charge from £10 to £16 for each one-way flight, instead of the rise of just £3 which had been predicted. BA's short-haul surcharge is also to increase from £4 to £6 per flight.

BA's rise - which takes effect from next Monday - comes less than a year after the surcharge was introduced last May at just £2.50 for every flight, irrespective of duration. This was increased in August and again in October - when oil was $53 a barrel - to the current long-haul and short-haul levels. A surcharge for freight customers has also recently been raised - by 3p to 23p a kilo.

BA's overall fuel costs for the current financial year are expected to be around £1.1bn, rising to more than £1.4bn in the year to March 2006. Martin George, the company's commercial director, said: "Our fuel bill next year is expected to be an extra £300m. With prices continuing to rise, a surcharge increase is regrettably unavoidable."

The airline recently told investors that, at current levels, the surcharge would recoup £160m, with some exposure to high prices limited by forward buying. BA has hedged half of its fuel costs at an average of $35 a barrel until the end of this year, rising to $40 for 30% of its needs between January and March next year.

Despite the cost of fuel and increasing competition, BA is still expected to report record annual profits of more than £525m in May, the last figures to be announced by chief executive Rod Eddington. Mr Eddington will return home in September, to be replaced by former Aer Lingus boss Willie Walsh.

British Airways shares had climbed by 3p to 267.25p in late afternoon trading. Easyjet shares also saw an increase of 12.5p - more than 6% - to 210.75p, after a spokesman insisted the airline had no plans to introduce surcharges.

"We believe that one of the reasons why the low-cost airline sector has held up over the past six months, despite dire predictions, is that legacy airlines have put up fuel surcharges on their fares which make us seem cheaper," he said.